Saturday - welcome back Bassam...

So very glad to hear that we would have Bassam back with us today to carry on with the tiling of the conservatory and also even more importantly glad that Elena was back in the village for the weekend and feeling up to a little trip down to Paps this morning whilst Amoura was at ballet.

Keen to get the project back on track we were up early - John had a little problem with his trusty helper Charlie who insisted on playing with the line that John was using for the tiling!

Nearly all the tiles have been cut so it is a question of getting them put in place and secured down.  We have taken the front door off in readiness for the glazing men to take it away and have it made shorter.  The only trouble is that today we are forecast to have rain and sadly they weren't wrong with the forecast.

The morning stated out nicely enough but deteriorated so that we had rolling mists and rain.  Not so unusual for May as you might think - I remember that when we moved our furniture was delivered in early June and it rained on that day!

And I remember Elaine's hen do which was in May and it absolutely poured monsoon-like that day - we were wading up to our knees in rain water as we decamped to Liz's house in Sea Caves!

Unfortunately the majority of the conservatory furniture is outside on the decking - there is some shelter but it isn't waterproof so we need to get it inside sooner rather than later.

The day deteriorated - it looked more like winter outside - Droushia is lovely but the weather but it can be a bit of an irritation when we look down the hill and can see glorious sunshine when we don't have any!

The cats are confused as they are being encouraged not to use the catflap whilst there is so much adhesive and stuff all over the floor.  Poor Charlie came in and walked straight through some glue so I had to rescue him and wash off his paws before he started cleaning them for himself.

This does mean that they have had to be outside rather more often than they would like.  Boris was particularly perturbed today as he sheltered under the garden table when he would rather have been asleep on one of the sofas in the conservatory,  They only have one more day to cope with the upheaval and then they will be able to go back to normal and for them that can't come quick enough!!!

So whilst Bassam and John were working I went and picked up Elena and Amoura and went off down to Polis so that Amoura could have her ballet lesson.

Elena and I managed to get round Paps and do our shopping before we retired to the square in Polis for a drink.  I never do that and it was so lovely there today that I have resolved that John and I should do it more often.

Bassam and John had worked really hard and by the end of play today all the tiles had been laid ready for grouting tomorrow as Bassam wants to get our job finished this weekend just in case he is needed to go to Nicosia next week.  We aren't arguing as we are keen to get it finished too.

My job was to clean up the tiles and remove all the spacers and any excess glue so that the tiling could start in earnest tomorrow - we are going out for lunch so we will need to start early if we are going to be able to get it finished in time.  It looks fabulous and the conservatory looks so much bigger with the tiles and nothing in it.

As a treat for John and to say a million thank-yous for all his hard work I had taken heed of his request for a curry this evening.  Whilst I was out shopping with Elena I got the ingredients to make a good old chicken curry with poppadoms.

And it I do say so myself it was a corker of a curry with enough left over for us to have again on Monday night.

We were both knackered but managed an episode of the The Five before retiring to bed.  Hopefully project finished tomorrow.